Code Crimson: Black and White
by Draconai
Summary: A rogue faction of the Militesi Army has set up camp in the Berith Desert, with intent to attack the Black Peristylium. Lorica is ill equipped to wipe them out; however, not wanting to ignite war with the empire, the King of Lorica has refused to call upon military aid from Concordia or Rubrum. Class Zero must infiltrate the V&W encampment and wipe out the renegades.
1. Call of the Black Tortoise

Draco: Final Fantasy Type-0 is awesome. I will accept no quarrel on this matter. I briefly considered doing a literation (novelization, whatever) of the game, but I decided against it - largely because I _suck_ with timing Fantasian overworld travel. They give me dates, but I can just tell I would eff it up sooner or later. Plus, with my luck, Type-Next would be a continued story (somehow) and I would feel compelled to keep writing _another_ Square-wrenching series. I had a few ideas for a post-game fanfic, but I rather enjoy the way the game ended and I don't want to ruin that. I _could_ work off Another Spiral, but I'm no good with slice-of-life writing and I don't want to undermine the happy ending by adding conflict.

So why would I write a fanfic for Type-0?

Because I came up with an Orience version of the expression "fox in the henhouse" and I couldn't think of a place where anyone in Class Zero could reasonably say it in the game's story.

No, really.

Okay, this takes place some good months before the Akademeia Liberation, so there _shouldn't_ be any major spoilers... but on account of my inability to not make passing narrations of petty obscurity that may or may not be spoileriffic, and my tendency to ramble in the author's comments, I'd like to insist that anyone who intends to read this have cleared the main story, all seven Code Crimson missions, all twenty-one Expert Trials, a good number of Requests, and any plethora of Free Time Events, as well as opened and read 80% of the Rubicus and kicked Gilgamesh's eight-armed rear end a few times just to be safe. (What, you didn't think they were going to include Gilgamesh and not let you fight him eight-armed, did you?) You better have seen Machina cry, at the absolute least.

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **Call of the Black Tortoise**

=Gelumens XX, 841 RG=  
Akademeia's remote training facility for Sorcery external branch  
Codename: Vermilion Nest

" _Walk on, wandering souls_  
 _For your respite we pray_  
 _Let our humble song clear your hearts of dismay_  
 _Rekindle the flame in your souls and set you free  
So walk on and become the light that guides the way..._"

Ace often found himself singing this song - a song that Mother had sung to him when he was younger. He also enjoyed spending his time at the facility's waterfront, watching the waves crash against the shore. Thus, it was little surprise that when Deuce came looking for him, she found him at the docks, and heard his vocals a good deal before she saw him - though mostly because he was sitting next to a large wooden barrel. The skies were slightly cloudy, and the sun was on its way down, but the air was windless, and the waters were calm.

Only after the last line had faded out did she make her presence known, and that was with the query, "Does anything come after that?"

Her voice caused Ace to glance over his shoulder with a light start, a smirk rising on his face on realizing the flautist had snuck up on him. "Probably," he admitted, turning back to the water. "I can't remember, though. Mother never sings that song anymore."

Deuce gave a soft chuckle before hunching down next to him. "She actually sent me to come find you."

"Did she?" Ace was surprised at that. "She usually comes to get me herself when she needs me."

"She usually comes to get all of us herself," Deuce agreed. "But even Mother can't be in twelve places at once."

Now _that_ got Ace's attention; the gambler got to his feet in short order as Deuce stood tall. "What does she need _all_ of us for?" he inquired.

Deuce shook her head. "She said she'd tell us when we were all there."

"Must be serious," Ace realized. "We'd better-"

He was silenced when something landed on his nose, causing him to flinch. It was a drop of water; he and Deuce both glanced up and realized that those clouds were full of rain.

+x+x+x+

Sice's derisive snicker greeted them as they stepped into the facility's council room, dripping with rain. Ace was the last one to enter; the other ten were already there, gathered around Mother's 'clock table', as Jack often called it - thirteen seats along the edge of a round table, one for each of them, and one for Mother. Deuce and Ace quickly took their seats, and Ace was surprised to see the table was in 'active' mode; the surface doubled as a projector, and though normally bearing a simple vermilion surface, it took a light green hue when the enchantment was active - to indicate that anything on it needed to be removed in short order.

The thirteenth space was empty, but that didn't last very long; no sooner had Ace flung his cape over the back of his seat, to let it dry, than the door opened, and the scent of smoke wafted in.

Arecia Al-Rashia stepped up to the remaining seat as her children - the Agito Cadet Class Zero - turned to face her. She offered the gathered faces a gentle smile as she arrived at the table (although she did not take the seat), lowering her cigarette in its holder away from her head. "Glad to see you've all made it," she greeted them.

"What's this about, Mother?" Cater inquired. "You _never_ need all of us."

"And I wish I didn't need all of you now," the sorceress agreed. "But this is a bit bigger than we usually deal with. Earlier today, I received a message from Lorica."

That had everyone exchanging glances. They had all done missions before - smaller groups, usually four or five at most - but they were usually covert operations, 'Code Crimson' orders from the Dominion of Rubrum to deal with attackers from the Milites Empire or the Kingdom of Concordia. This was the first time their orders had _anything_ to do with the Lorica Alliance.

With her children's gazes on her, Arecia tapped the surface of the table with her empty hand. The surface lit up, becoming a map of Orience; with a wave of her hand, the projection zoomed in on Lorican territory. The Black Peristylium rested in the _Lorica Region_ , in the pit of a great sinkhole; around it was the city of Lorica, where the bulk of the Alliance's population rested. Mother had centered the projection on the mountain range between it and the _Berith Desert_ , a lifeless expanse of sand under Lorican purview where nothing but beasts could survive for long.

Or so the class had been taught.

All but centered in the Berith sands was a large base of sorts, in the silvery hues usually used for Militesi territory or encampments; however, this one was streaked with three gold stripes. There was also a small marker on the western mountain range - at the Berith Tunnel, which led to the _Northern Valley_ in the northwestern corner of Orience.

"What are we... seeing?" Trey inquired, raising his gaze to Mother.

Cinque hummed concernedly. "Is that...?"

"Yes," Arecia confirmed. "This is a Militesi encampment. It seems that renegade soldiers from the Militesi army have taken up position here, and intend to attack the Black Peristylium. They're very well-equipped; Lorica can't attack them directly without exposing themselves to counterattack, and doing so would get their attacking force slain - mostly at range."

She tapped the fingers of one hand against each other, causing two smaller projections to appear - two men in white Imperial officer's garb that had been covered in gold streaks, with simple gold masks that framed their eyes. "These are their leaders: former corporals Biggs and Wedge, who have named their group the V&W Faction. They were disgraced for unauthorized use of an experimental military serum outside of battle, and absconded with anyone willing to aid them, twenty weapons for every man, and enough Magitek Armours and automaton weapons to take a dominion town if they struck in the night. They've been in Berith since Terramens, waiting for Lorica to make the first move."

Queen furrowed her brow at Mother's description. "Why doesn't the Militesi army deal with the betrayers themselves?" she inquired. "The renegades can't possibly be so numerous as to leave the imperial militia short-staffed."

Arecia shook her head. "Sympathizers to the renegades are keeping the empire busy, which prevents them from striking the desert encampment. Milites actually sent a messenger to Lorica to tell them that the V&W Faction is acting against orders, and encourage them to wipe them out fully and completely."

"Which means that they can't bluff about backup," Eight observed. "That camp is all they've got."

"Exactly." Reaching up to adjust her glasses, Arecia continued; "However, the Lorican king has refused to call for aid from Rubrum or Concordia. They don't want any military bigwigs getting ideas about attacking the White Peristylium after the renegades are finished. Which means the only assistance they can ask is from independent groups - such as the external branch of Akademeia Sorcery."

She raised her gaze to the children, who had all taken on expressions she had seen on each of them several thousand times - the focused gazes of Agito Cadets ready for a mission.

"I want all of you to lend Lorica your aid. Deal with Biggs and Wedge, sabatoge their machines, and take out as many renegades as you can."

Seven only smiled. "You don't need to ask, Mother."

The other eleven only nodded in agreement, their own smiles decorating their faces.

Arecia smiled back to them, waving her hand again; the projections of the V&W leaders vanished as the map zoomed in closer on the encampment. "Lorica has details concerning the renegade base, but has refused to disclose any further information unless we agree to aid them. However, with the information they _have_ given us, I've figured out a reasonable base startegy. I want you children in four teams for this operation.

"Ace, you will lead the Phi team. You are to infiltrate the base and take out the leaders as soon as you can.

"Cater, you will command the Gamma team. You'll need to watch the perimeter in case the faction decides to act.

"Seven, you will lead the Omicron team. If diversions become necessary, it's your task to start diverting.

"Jack, you will take charge of the Eta team. Your job is to strike at the main body of the renegade forces.

The sorceress took her seat at this time. "Choose your teammates now. Ace, you first."

Ace nodded, turning his fellow Classmates Zero. After a moment, he announced, "I'll take Cinque, and Deuce."

Cinque gave a cry that was somewhere between surprise and cheer.

Queen coughed pointedly. "Mother said you were the _infiltration_ ," she reminded the gambler.

"Yeah, and that's _why_ I'm taking Cinque," Ace insisted. "Deuce and I are the best here at sneaking around, but if things go south, we need someone who can deal with White Tigers. Cinque is the heaviest hitter here."

The mace-swinger giggled, punching the air cheerfully. "Leave it to me!"

Mother only nodded. "Very well. That's the Phi team. Cater, your turn."

Cater's gaze shifted left and right before she announced, "Eight and Nine, with me."

Half of the Classmates groaned when she said Eight's name. Neither of them were about to admit it, but the whole class knew Cater and Eight were tending _something_ between them. Eight only swept a hand up at his side dismissively; Nine, however, crossed his arms in confusion. "Why me, hey?"

"Because you can keep up with us," Cater insisted. "If we're watching the outside edge, we need to get to the enemies when we see them, and if they're half the length of the camp away then we need speed. Me, Eight, and Ace are all fast, but Ace has his own team. When you get in the air, you're the only one who matches the tier."

Nine smirked, closing his eyes and hooking his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I'm up for it, yo."

Arecia turned to the whipblade artist. "Very well. Seven, who will you take?"

Seven's gaze went to the projection of the camp, thinking for a good while. "How about... King, and Sice."

A foul utterance of protest was halfway out Sice's mouth before she thought better of it. "You had to rob me from the strike," she protested.

"Because you're violent," Seven insisted.

"I should hope so," Sice protested. "I finally get a chance to reap some Whites, and you put me on the diversion?"

King leaned forward. "It's not because violent is bad for the strike," he insisted. "It's because it's good for the diversion."

"What?"

Seven beckoned to the encampment. "With a place this big, diversions need to be set up on the inside. And if something blows up inside, they're going to assume that the one responsible is inside. If we don't want Ace's team captured, we need them to see _us_. Which means we'll need to fend them off. That'll let you reap more White than that vacation in Meroë last Caelusmens."

Sice shrunk back into her seat, crossing her arms indignantly. "You didn't tell me they were holding a snowman contest."

Arecia glanced at the others. "Jack, that will leave you with Queen and Trey."

Jack threw his hands up, a grin on his face. "Oh, _great_ ," he cracked, "I've got a bookworm and an encyclopedia to trash Milites with."

Queen glared at him. Trey shook his head. "If you don't believe that my archery and Queen's swordplay will be of service, we can always find a way to-"

"Hey, hey!" Jack insisted. "That wasn't all complaints! You two are the biggest readers here! If they've got MAs big enough that there's a way to shut 'em down fast, you guys can tell me exactly where to put the business end of my katana. Bigger they are, harder they fall, right? You guys can show me how to drop a Colossus on their coeurl cubs."

"That's..." Queen's gaze fell mid-retort as she admitted, "actually a good point."

Trey nodded lightly, an expression of impression adorning his visage. "Very well. My arrows strike to your mark."

Mother got to her feet at that. "One more thing," she insisted. "In order to stop the renegades from retaliating against the dominion if things go wrong, Lorica has asked that you not wear your Akademeia uniforms to the operation... where people can see them. Furthermore, Berith Desert's arid terrain means that the only cover for kilometers is the base. Taking both of these into consideration, I asked for a little help for you kids from Sorcery's... developmental section."

That had the Classmates exchanging glances again. Ace was the one who vocalized their confusion.

"What do you mean 'developmental'?"

+x+x+x+

"I feel like we're missing something..."

The 'little help' that Arecia had requested turned out to be a new product of Sorcery, dubbed the "Camouflage Cloak". Being still in the experimental stage, the cloaks didn't look like Akademeia's legionary uniforms; at present, they were jet-black and nondescript, with bulky hoods that would cast a mask in shadow if they were raised, and worn silver zippers with draw tabs on the top and bottom.

The end result was that when they all had the hoods up, Class Zero would become a group of twelve cloaked nobodies.

Mother smiled as the Classmates threw the hoods back. "Wonderful," she praised. "Now, these cloaks are designed to automatically cast Inviga on the wearer and any allies in their vicinity once activated. Cinque," she prompted, "unfold your sleeves."

Everyone glanced at their sleeves, realizing that the ends of were folded back on themselves - the sleeves were long enough that it would cover their hands (though _maybe_ not their fingers) if they weren't. Cinque held one hand out and folded the sleeve forward, seeing there was a velcro strap around it to hold it in place; when she had done the same to the other sleeve, a ripple of magic crossed her, Cater, and Sice as their bodies faded out.

"Wagh!" Cinque glanced around - when she was still, there was no sign she was even there, but movement caused the invisibility to leave ripples around her. "Woah...! That's so cool!"

Cater was glancing at her hand, watching the air ripple as she angled it back and forth. "I hate Invis magic," she muttered. "It's so _weird_ , looking at yourself and not seeing it there."

Sice scoffed, movement around her chest heigh implying she had crossed her arms. "For something that's still in development, it looks like it's pretty solid already."

Arecia nodded. "Yes, well, as far as the activation goes, everything is in order. However, they found that there's problems for extended _solitary_ use."

Deuce turned to her. "Problems?"

"Gyah!" Cinque stumbled back, turning around; the trio's invisibility started to ripple even where they were keeping still. "It's getting hotter!"

Mother quickly stepped forward. Her hand caught Cinque's, and in short order she folded a sleeve back, securing them in place as the magic faded. "The magic starts to act up the longer it's active," she explained. "If you keep it on too long, the invisibility will cut right out. It usually takes at least three minutes for it to recover, though they're designed to stop trying before it's irreparable; once it's recovered, you have to fold the sleeves again and then unfold them to trigger the Inviga again."

Queen unfolded her own sleeves, vanishing herself, Jack, and King. "Do you have any data on how long it takes for it to cut out?"

"It fares worse in colder conditions," Mother explained. "Anything warmer than this room, you'll have half an hour before forced visibility."

"And the heat waves in Berith will stop the motion ripples from being too noticeable..." Queen quickly reached for Jack's arm, causing the jokester to yelp. Against his protests, she quickly unfolded his sleeves, causing Nine to vanish out as well; then she folded one of her own sleeves back, causing King to reappear.

Trey snapped his fingers. "There," he observed. "If we alternate whose cloak is actively maintaining the Inviga, that'll prevent our enemies from taking notice of our presence for however long we-"

"Trey, you're rambling again," Ace reprimanded.

The archer fell quiet, shrinking into his collar.

Jack quickly folded back one of his sleeves, turning him, Queen, and Nine visible again. "So, it only needs one up to turn off?" he mused.

"Yes," Arecia confirmed. "Sorcery keeps them both folded when they're not active, as a safety measure. Nobody wants to go looking for something that's invisible."

Everyone quickly unfolded the sleeve on their indominant hand.

Mother chuckled. "Well, if you're all ready, I've arranged transport to Alliance territory. You'll be meeting with a paladin by the name of Ishme, in Jubanla. He'll take you to Lorica, and brief you on the situation."

"Yes, Mother!"

* * *

Draco: Orience runs on a clock of thirteens. If you pay attention to the introductory pan when you step into Akademeia's entry hall, you'll see the banner above Central Command has a clock of thirteens, not twelves. I mean, the use of military timestamps on the cutscenes naturally makes me think 24s, but I'm pretty sure Orience has 26-hour days.

Also, I gave the Rubicus a good read and took a look at the official map while I was at it. Said official map is far more haphazard than the in-game one, but I suppose the in-game map was simplified to make gameplay easier. _Something_ around the Black Peristylium is labelled "Molech", but the convoluted labels include a lot of stuff that isn't in the game so I'm hesitant to make use of that. From the Rubicus, though, it looks like Lorica is the name of the region and the city, from which grew the Lorica Alliance, so that's what I'm using. Including Lorica, in and of itself, means that I'm going to be taking a _lot_ of artistic license, so prepare for that.

The Lorica Alliance, wherein lies the Lorica Region and the city of Lorica. You know, for all that Black Tortoises are buff brutes, they are a terribly unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things. #JackSparrow #PiratesOfTheCaribbean

On the other hand, those convoluted labels provide a good way for them to include new cities in Type-Next if they're still in Orience without rearranging the map like they did in Bravely Second.


	2. Vermilion Perch

Draco: Okay, two minor complaints about FFN's category for Final Fantasy Agito XIII. (A) Type-0 was never playable when it was called Agito XIII, and (B), there should really be a "Class Zero" in the character listing for fics that just involve the whole class instead of select Classmates Zero. You did it for the Organization, why won't you do it for the Agito Cadets?

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **Vermilion Perch**

=Gelumens XXI, 841 RG=  
Lorica Alliance territory  
Jubanla Region

Class Zero's transport of choice for Code Crimson operations was a Shimakaze-class high-speed airship that had been customized by Mother for maximum mobility. The airship would get them wherever they needed to be as soon as possible, was capable of cloaking itself via a casting of Invija across the length of the ship (although the spell tended to hold up poorly at higher speeds, it kept the ship cloaked to the outside and not to the inside), and carried five magic autocannons - two to each side, one at the prow - in case the unranged Classmates needed strike from the deck.

The airship was also _not_ painted in dominion red, as the Crimson Wings airships deployed by the legions were; thus, Lorican paladin Ishme, waiting in the _Jubanla Region_ for the independents from Rubrum, was very confused when this small, silvery-steel airship arrived over the mountains from the _Iscah Region_. Ace, watching over the larboard railing, saw the large man standing next to a large beast that he could have _sworn_ was a great tauricorn and raised a hand at his side. "I see him!"

"Right," Eight mused. "Send him your card. We'll start warping down."

Ace reached into the 'card holster' at his hip, drawing out the card he had prepared for this. He didn't keep his attacking cards in there - none of them carried their weapons on their persons, dominion magic made that unnecessary - but whenever he needed a card for any non-combative purposes, he would store it. Such as, for example, a message for a Lorican paladin; he quickly flicked the card forward, simple directive magic trailing white behind it as it steered towards the earth

Ishme saw the red glow of dominion teleportation appear below the airship. His hand shifted on his sword before he noticed something small falling from the airship. As it got closer, he realized it was a card, and then that there was something flowing from it; that flow faded out as it arrived above him, however, and the card began to tumble weakly to gravity's whim. He managed to catch it before it hit the ground, and found a message written upon it.

 _Agito Cadet Class Zero,  
here on behalf of Arecia  
Al-Rashia to assist in  
dealing with the Militesi  
renegade V&W Faction.  
~Ace_

He hummed lightly, raising his gaze at the approaching figures - twelve in all. They all wore identical, hooded black cloaks, but their faces were many and varied. At the front was a girl with black hair about shoulder-length, with a simple pair of glasses resting upon her face. As they approached him, she came to a stop, raising a hand at her side for the others to cease; then she stepped forward alone, coming to a stop at five paces.

The Lorican soldier looked over the gathered cloaks before turning to the girl with the glasses. "Welcome, Class Zero. I am Ishme of the Black Paladins."

"My name is Queen," the girl reciprocated. "I understand you'll be taking us to the city of Lorica for preparations against the V&W faction?"

Ishme shook his head. "I am afraid there has been a change of plans," he apologized. "In expectation of an attack from the Militesi renegades, the Alliance military has been preparing every defensive measure we have. Consequently, the city is ill suited to be hosting outsiders - not for any preconceived notions," he added quickly, seeing Queen's face shift, "but because the city is rather... less-than-easy to navigate in the calmest of times, unless you've learned the city your whole life."

Another boy stepped forward; there was a card in his hand, and Ishme realized this must have been Ace. "If that's the case," he explained, "where will you be briefing us?"

"Worry not," Ishme insisted. "We've found a place within which to begin preparations."

He turned to the great tauricorn at his side - and everyone in Class Zero was surprised when he pulled himself atop the beast, grasping reins that had been prepared upon the creature and directing it to turn. "If you would come with me..."

+x+x+x+

Nobody doubted Ishme's claim that Lorica would be difficult to navigate upon seeing it - projections of maps and photographs in books couldn't compare to the sight of a city built around and within a massive hole in the earth. From the edge of the city, they could see straight down to the Black Peristylium - a massive temple in the pit of the sinkhole - and they were all surprised to hear the sounds of battle. Standing before the temple was a man clad in black armour that bared his arms, carrying a blade that needed to be braced upon his shoulders.

"That's a _huge_ sword!" Cinque exclaimed.

Ishme chuckled. "King Gilgamesh Ashur of the Lorica Alliance. Primus l'Cie to the Black Tortoise Crystal, and the most battle-thirsty man in Orience."

"The King's a l'Cie?" Eight mused.

"Don't act so surprised," Trey insisted. "The queen of Concordia is also a l'Cie, in service to the Azure Dragon Crystal, and so she is able to-"

"Trey," Deuce warned, "you're rambling again."

As the archer clammed up, the Class noticed a man getting to his feet. "Who's the guy on his ass?" Cater asked.

"Enkidu Uruk," Ishme replied. "His personal advisor, and closest friend."

"What?" Nine demanded. "Why's he beatin' up his best friend, yo?"

King huffed. "What did he do to deserve punishment from the ruler himself?"

Ishme laughed. "He didn't _do_ anything," he insisted. "He's just the only one who can go a few rounds with a Primus."

A chorus of " _Huh?!_ " sounded as the entire Class turned to him.

The paladin only beckoned for them to follow, spurring his steed to continue. "Come on."

As they walked, Ace stepped up beside him. "So," he mused, "you guys control tauricorns?"

"No," Ishme corrected. "No, no. The dracoknights of the Azure Dragon _control_ monsters. We of the Black Tortoise _tame_ doublicorns upon which we ride into battle. The same way you of the Vermillion Bird will capture chocobos to serve as your steeds, or men of the White Tiger breed lesser coeurls to act as their watchdogs."

Ace chuckled nervously. "It's a bit of a leap comparing a lesser coeurl to a _great tauricorn_ ," he observed.

"A paladin must show he can handle a doublicorn before he is permitted to mount a great tauricorn," Ishme explained. "And even then, it takes a while before we can ride them into battle. I still have scars from the first few rides."

"That's... pretty awesome."

+x+x+x+

Ishme led them to a small wooded area in what was literally the southwestern corner of the _Lorica Region_ ; a large and aged - but yet strong-standing - wooden house lay in that forest, safe from prying eyes that might be passing by. "This building used to belong to an old l'Cie from some two hundred years ago," Ishme explained, "but it's been unused since long before she sublimated. We've elected to use it as a base of preparations for the independent forces willing to aid us in dealing with the V&W faction."

"Wait," Jack insisted. "Forc _es_ , plural? I thought it was just us."

"Well..."

The door was drawn open, and everyone was surprised when a woman of rather short stature stepped out of the building, dressed in what looked like Concordian _dracoknight_ armour - sans helmet. "Ishme, have the phoenixes arrived yet?"

Half of Class Zero went for their weapons. The other half gave them sharp whacks in reprimand.

Ishme quickly dismounted his tauricorn. "Karia, this is the Agito Cadet Class Zero. Class Zero, this is Seles Karia Sandien Viruto."

"Oi, Concordia names," Nine muttered.

King elbowed him in the ribs as the Concordian woman stepped forward. "A pleasure to meet you, Class Zero," she greeted.

"And you," Deuce reciprocated. "I didn't think there were any independent forces in Concordia."

"There aren't," Karia admitted. "I received word about the V&W Faction from a friend of mine who lives in Amiter. She told me that Lorica would not ask aid from the Vermilion or Azure Peristylia, and would only accept offers from independent units." Her gaze fell as she continued; "I, er... requested leave from the warden, and then took six of the best skyverns available to the Yoiyami Guard and fled here. I'm fully expecting to be discharged from the dracoknights upon my return."

"Ouch," Eight mused. "Well, that's pretty generous of you, putting your job at risk like that."

Karia smiled. "I couldn't well leave Lorica to be attacked by rogues, now, could I?" she observed.

"And you don't have a problem fighting with us?" King inquired.

"One set of wings cannot take the sky for themselves," Karia insisted. "I have no objections to fighting alongside noble phoenixes."

Seven shook her head. "I hope you aren't expecting to bombard the camp with your six dragons," she insisted. "If they see your flock-"

"Thunder," Karia interrupted. On receiving the Class' confusion, she elaborated; "A group of dragons is properly referred to as a _thunder_."

"That's pretty badass," Sice praised.

Karia chuckled at that. "In any case," she insisted, "I know full well that this small number of dragons is ill suited to attacking a Militesi encampment, even if it is belonging to renegades. However, the mountains between Lorica and Berith are no small feat to climb. It should be a simple matter for the skyverns to take you to the Berith Desert, though we dare not fly you directly to the base."

Ishme coughed lightly, drawing everyone's attention. "Let us step inside," he prompted. "I'll brief you on what we've learned about the V&W Faction."

+x+x+x+

Being unable to attack the renegades had not stopped Lorica from being able to observe them; they had a complete map of the encampment prepared for Class Zero to observe. The renegades entered and exited from a gate at the east side; several warehouses were scattered about the eastern 55% or so of the base. The remaining western portion consisted of eight buildings packed so closely together as to form a courtyard between them.

"Biggs and Wedge command the renegades from here," Ishme explained, beckoning to the westernmost building. Then, indicating the two buildings connected to the north corner and the long one on the south; "These are the soldiers' barracks, and this..." Here he beckoned to the long building that bordered off the courtyard as he finished, "...is a training hall they've put together. The rest of the buildings are warehouses, holding their weapons and machines." Tapping the four corners of the encampent, he added, "They've also got four watchtowers, with enough men and enough firearms to shoot down a whole quake of great tauricorns."

Cinque raised her gaze. "A 'quake'?"

"A herd," Karia simplified. "A group of doublicorns is properly referred to as a _quake_."

Queen ran her hand along the edge of the encampment. "Are the guntowers their only perimeter defense?"

Ishme shook his head. "They've got some soldiers in smaller MAs patrolling the edge," he explained, "and the fencing in and around the camp is electrified. Only the main gate is uncharged, and only when it's not closed."

Cater hummed, peering closely at the map. Karia seemed to notice; "Would I be correct to assume that you've plans already?"

"Well, not _plans_ ," Cater insisted. "We've got teams, and we've got objectives. The plans don't come until we see your details, and now we've got 'em."

"What do you mean, 'teams'?" Ishme inquired.

"Eight, Cater, and Nine watch the outside edge," Jack explained, pointing out the Classmates as he named them. "Sice, Seven, and King distract them when they need to be distracted. Then Deuce, Ace, and Cinque sneak in and take out the big targets, and once they're all boned then Queen, me, and Trey get in there and start dishing out sand."

Karia and Ishme were both surprised to hear them say that. "You're..." The Concordian shook her head. "You've thought this out."

"Well, something like that," Ace admitted. "If you can get us into the desert, we can take them out by morning."

"You plan to strike at night?" Ishme inquired. "I wouldn't, if I were you."

"Why so, hey?" Nine asked.

"Berith is _cold_ at night," the paladin insisted. "Nesher cold, even. The wind is frigid. You Vermilions won't last a chance.

Glances were exchanged between Class Zero, remembering what Mother had said about their Camouflage Cloaks functioning worse in cold conditions. "Alright," Trey mused. "When do you recommend we move out?"

"At dawn," Karia observed. "If you can get moving in the transition between the chill of night and the heat of day, you should be able to get any long-distance travel done without too much trouble."

"Sounds like a plan," Ace agreed.

* * *

Draco: 'Coeurl' is a weird word. That's a long string of vowels to get wrong.


	3. Striking at the Wild Tiger

Draco: I did something unusual and _planned_ most of what happens in this fic. Like, proper plans, not just 'there are things that need to happen' and 'there are references I want to make' like I usually do. I have a specific layout for most of this, particularly this chapter.

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **Striking at the Wild Tiger**

=Gelumens XXII, 841 RG=  
Former residence of Black Tortoise l'Cie Erragal  
Lorica Region

"...ning."

Deuce winced as she drifted out of sleep. Her entire body felt stiff.

"Good mor~ning..."

As she opened her eyes, she found a woman in armour kneeling at her side.

"Time to wake up. Come now, that's it."

Karia got to her feet as Deuce slowly lifted upright, the previous days occurrences slowly coming back to her. The old home in the forest was ill suited to host fourteen overnight; Ishme had returned to the paladins' quarters in Lorica for the night, and Class Zero had insisted that the dracoknight take the building's lone bed in the attic. Consequently, Deuce and her Classmates had taken to sprawling themselves on the floor around the map table on the lower floor, and as Karia stepped away she was all but dancing between the Agito Cadets as they slowly rose from slumber.

"It will be dawn in a few short hours," the Concordian announced. "Ishme brought a meal for us. Eat quickly; then we should depart."

She was out of the house in a few moments, leaving the cadets alone in the building. In a few moments, they had all drawn themselves out of slumber; and they knew there was one thing they had to check while Karia was not watching them.

The class' gambler held his hand away from himself and let magic gather in his grip, a pale, glowing sphere - white phantoma - appearing in his palm in short order.

 _"Ace, check."_

This was how they spoke with one another on Code Crimson missions. Dominion communications were all interlinked, and so Mother did not have any at the Vermilion Nest. Rather, Class Zero kept contact with a phantoma-harnessed obscure neural extension magic that conveyed spoken word directly to the minds of those they were linked to. Ace's voice was naught but the quietest whisper, such that his own ears hardly reached it - yet his Classmates all heard him as clearly as though he were speaking into their ears. At long range, monsters would be driven mad by the resonations in their own phantoma, and at longer still even humans would notice something awry; but when they were so close together, the only ones to even be affected were the twelve Classmates Zero.

The phantoma in his hand vanished, and Deuce formed one in her own. " _Deuce, check._ " Everyone heard it, and so she let it fade as Trey grasped one for himself.

" _Trey, check._ "

Each of the twelve of them tested their magic, so as to ensure the link between the twelve of them was still active; then they got to their feet, stepping out of the building to find Ishme and Karia waiting for them. The paladin had come without his tauricorn, this time; but around the building were six impressive skyverns, each turning to the Class.

"A little slow to rise, are we?" Ishme mused.

"How do you even hide dragons in Lorica?" Jack inquired

"The forestry means that being grounded is cover enough," Karia explained. "Will you be eating?"

"Can we get that to go?" Seven asked. "We should move out immediately."

Ishme smiled. "I like your style."

Karia beckoned one of the dragons to make its way forward as Ishme distributed breakfast. "The dragons can carry carry two phoenixes, at most," she explained, "though I should be able to join the lightest group. Each of you, choose a partner. We will take you to the Berith sands, and retreat in short order."

Partners were a simple matter, for everyone in Class Zero had someone with whom they were on amicable terms. Ace and Deuce were both willing to be welcome; Seven was the only one who could match Sice's scathing insults; Eight and Cater went without saying; Queen was least objecting to Trey's intellectual lengths; Nine and King had the toughest skulls in the Class; and Cinque was cheerful enough to take Jack's jesting when the mood allowed it. In no time, they had boarded the dragons; Karia donned a dracoknight helmet and mounted the skyvern Ace and Deuce were upon, drawing a spear from her back.

"Hold tight, all of you. This will be no pleasure cruise."

+x+x+x+

Pleasure cruise or not, the dragons had speeds comparable to Class Zero's corvette. In no time, the six skyverns were soaring up the mountain range to Berith, with the dragon Karia rode at the front.

They were most displeased to find a series of tri-legged machines at the top of the mountain: Militesi Nymurods. By some stroke of fate, they were all ill positioned to strike at the soaring dragons, but the Class knew how quickly these things could turn when they started moving. Karia seemed to realize the danger as well, for an utterance of "Damnations" reached Ace's ears even in the wind.

"What do we do?" Deuce cried.

"Keep holding on," Karia insisted. Then, crying out so that all six dragons could hear her; " _Haltz_ _!_ "

The dragons accelerated still further, rushing parallel with the mountain. The Nymurods were clearly piloted, for they began to move as Karia issued her command; however, it was no time at all before the skyverns were level with the machines, and from each dragon's maw emerged a blast of voltage that blew the mechs to pieces. The shocks disabled the mechs, but in no time at all were a few pilots emerging from the collapsed machines.

Karia growled in an almost draconic manner herself. " _Ratelo!_ "

The skyverns shot forward like bullets, and the Militesi rogues were unable to act before the dragons' claws ended their lives. Karia quickly directed the thunder earthward, soaring parallel to the mountain range until they arrived at the sands and landed. Class Zero quickly leapt down from the saddles, some landing more smoothly than others.

"When we're done," Ace informed the dracoknight, "we'll head through the Berith Tunnel to the Northern Valley. Meet us there."

"Very well," Karia mused. "I trust you will be successful."

She made sure the entire Class had dismounted; then she directed the dragons to soar back over the mountains, vanishing in short order.

Cinque giggled cheerfully. "That was awesome," she mused. "Halt! Rattle, yo! It would be so cool to fight with a dragon!"

Trey shook his head. "It was _haltz_ , and _ratelo_ ," he corrected. "She was speaking in Soryusian, a language meant to make communication with-"

"Deuce, Cinque, with me," Ace said quickly, interrupting Trey before he got too into it. "Better we get there before the heat picks up."

The archer fell quiet as the three of them started towards the center of the desert. Nine, Cater, and Eight were also quick to start moving as a group, as did King, Sice, and Seven. With a sigh, Trey allowed Queen and Jack to start moving before he followed suit.

"Trey," he told himself, "you're rambling again."

+x+x+x+

There was no shortage of unpleasant monsters in the desert, but it wasn't long before the twelve of them had gotten close enough to take a good look at the encampment. The leader of each team quickly triggered their Camouflage Cloak before the gunners could notice the black spots in the desert; then they got into position to observe the encampment.

A Striker MA and two troopers were patrolling the outside of the camp; as the Class watched, they approached the gate and made their way back into the camp as an identical unit stepped out for their shift. The guntowers visibly had only one or two men at the post, and aside from two Supersoldiers watching the gate, there didn't seem to be that many men watching the interior.

"Looks like Biggs and Wedge didn't have a whole lot of sympathizers," Queen observed.

"More likely they've only got a few men watching because of the conditions," Eight argued. "They'd get tired quick in this heat, and Militesi helmets don't exactly keep the sweat out of your eyes."

Everyone in the class looked at him when he said that.

Visible or not, Eight could _feel_ the gazes. "I mean they don't _look_ like it."

Ace rolled his eyes, turning back to the gate. "Easiest way in would be to slip by while the patrols are changing shifts," he observed. "Failing that, I should be able to stop the gate from locking to prevent the charge, and we can climb over."

Seven nodded. "Alright. We'll set up a few distractions for the patrol in case Gamma needs them, then come in after you and start preparing them on the interior."

"I think just watching the gate should be enough with the way they're set up," Cater observed. "Eight and Nine to either side, and me straight-on. As long as we keep close enough for our cloaks to keep us invisible, we'll be fine."

"Well," Jack mused, "how do you want us to prepare for the strike?"

"Sit tight where the patrol can't walk on you and you won't get crossfired by Gamma," Ace replied. "We'll make sure the gate's disabled when we need you to move in."

"That'll do it."

The patrol was already changing shifts; it didn't look like they did any more than one lap around the base before they changed. Ace quickly got to his feet. "Deuce, Cinque, let's move!"

"Right!"

"Okay!"

Moving in while they shifts changed worked well enough. To avoid traffic with the MAs, they did it in rounds; outgoing shift exited the base, incoming shift entered. The Phi team was able to slip in while the shifts were changing, and they quickly headed between the nearest two warehouses to make sure they didn't get heard while they were planning.

"Okay," Ace murmured. "I'm getting hot. Deuce, can you turn your cloak on?"

There was the muffled tear of a velcro strap, and a fresh dose of Inviga washed over the three of them; Ace quickly folded own sleeve back, glancing around. Unfortunately, sneaking in was going to prove a little more difficult than they anticipated; almost all of the warehouses were connected with fencing, and the sounds of charge told them that they were _all_ electrified, same as the border fencing.

"Keep close. This could get bothersome."

+x+x+x+

The Omicron team decided their diversions needed to be loud and hidden. To that end, King unlocked a few magazines from his handguns and set them in the shadows near each guardtower; Seven would strike them at range when they were needed, detonating them, and Sice would be all to eager to deal with the renegades when they took notice.

When they made their way inside, the Phi team had already vanished into the fence maze. The initial plan was a diversion on the inside and outside at both watchtowers, but Seven settled for putting them just on the two along the gate side and waiting for a signal to move in.

The Eta team was waiting on the north side of the base, waiting for the signal to move in - and they were rather concerned to see a trio of Striker Transports approaching from that side. Jack was quick to trigger the phantoma link, warning the others.

" _Uh, guys, this is Eta. We've got an MA unit coming from the north._ "

Cinque was quick to respond; _"How big are they?"_

" _Just the cargo models,_ " Jack assured them. " _But what are they_ doing _?_ "

 _"They must have a long-range patrol to watch the edges of the desert,"_ Seven replied. _"They must have been notified when we took out those Nymurods."_

" _That doesn't make sense,_ " Trey protested. " _Berith is huge. There's no way they could get communications at that range without an airship to carry the signals._ "

A pause; then everyone in Class Zero glanced up, to make sure there _wasn't_ an airship flying there that they had somehow missed.

 _"Stay quiet and keep hidden,"_ Eight advised. _"Omicron, see if you can listen in on them when they get inside._ Something _has to be up_."

 _"Copy that."_

It took a while before the Striker Transports arrived at the base. Seven had King trigger his cloak to Invis him and Sice; then she approached the arrivals as a man in a supersoldier uniform came out of one of the guntowers. The pilot for the first transport pulled himself out, and the two exchanged Militesi salutations.

"The cargo arrive already?"

"I wish I could say that. The ship's been wiped out."

The supersoldier scoffed. "I didn't think those dingies would be any good that far out."

"What? No, _nobody_ showed up."

"Then how did you-"

A groan from the pilot shut the supersoldier up. "Did you even _read_ the orientation packet?" He quickly turned back to his MA, reaching into the cockpit and drawing out a letter. "The order says: _Evie bringing ammunition,_ _Colossus MAs, Prometheus MAs to Berith north shore, accompanied by Henry, Jacob, Lydia, and George._ "

The supersoldier scratched the back of his head. "Who?"

A glare isn't easy to do in goggles and a helmet that casts your face in shadow, but the pilot managed it.

"Oh, wait, _shit_."

"Exactly," the pilot reprimanded. "Go tell V&W. We're gonna get these Transports back in storage."

Seven muttered a curse under her breath, making her way back to where King and Sice were waiting. Once she was in range, Sice triggered her cloak, prompting Seven and King to turn theirs back off; then the whipblade artist triggered the phantoma link. " _This is Omicron. The cargo MAs were awaiting a transport ship on the north shore. The renegades are identifying defeated units when they don't recognize the names. They could tell the ship was wiped out because they had a crew listing._ "

 _"Damn,"_ Nine muttered into the link. _"Yo, if they noticed something like that, they're gonna tell we wiped out their turrets on the mountain, hey."_

" _Yeah._ " Sice glanced at the fencing maze. " _Hey, Phi, keep your ears open. If they get on alert, give us a heads-up._ "

 _"Copy,"_ Deuce confirmed. Then; _"Oh, speak of Finis."_

" _What's happened?_ " King asked.

+x+x+x+

Unfortunately, the Militesi renegades had the good sense to make sure their labyrinth of electrified fence was only such that one could get into - or out of - it from the gate side. Fortunately, there was a portion which was damaged near the training hall, and the charge had been disabled for repairs; although there were some men working on it, it was a simple matter for Ace to deal out a few cards, Cinque to drag them into the nearest warehouse full of weapons, and Deuce to extract their phantoma, after which the Phi team slipped through. This happened around the time Jack informed them of the approaching MAs; by the time they got Seven's warning, they were already trying to pick their way through.

 _"Hey, Phi, keep your ears open,_ _"_ Sice warned. _"If they get on alert, give us a heads-up."_

" _Copy_."

No sooner had Deuce finished than the door to the nearest MA warehouse burst open, and a whole squadron of supersoldiers stepped out.

" _Oh, speak of Finis._ "

"The delivery team _and_ the guards on the Lorica mountains!?" one soldier ranted. "Damn it all! _Someone_ is up to something! Keep your eyes open; no one out of the Black Tortoise can hide to save their asses, but if the Emperor deployed a covert squad then that's another matter altogether. You," he added, pointing at the last soldier out of the door, "stay here and watch the door. This is the only one that doesn't go through the barracks. Turn on an MA if you see anything. And _check your lists_ , damn you. The rest of you, spread out. Get as many soldiers moving as you can. Did we ever...?"

As the soldiers departed, a tap on Ace's shoulder prompted him to turn on his cloak so that Deuce could turn hers off; then the Phi team made their way around the corner of the warehouse to make sure they wouldn't be overheard.

"We can't go take out V&W if there's that many men patrolling," Deuce observed, "there's no way Eta can get through safely."

"Maybe get Omicron to start a diversion?" Ace mused.

Deuce shook her head. "This many soldiers active, and more being put on alert? Even if Sice can fend off their ground troops, she needs to be out in the open in order to fight that many opponents, and that'll leave her exposed to the guntowers. King's the only one of _all twelve of us_ who can attack from far enough to deal with them."

Cinque hummed, glancing back. "If there's so many soldiers running around," she mused, "they're all gonna come running to the same place, right?"

Ace turned to her. "Yeah, but-"

"I'll be right back."

"What?!" The draw of velcro told them that Cinque had turned on her own cloak; Ace's attempt to grab her arm only grasped air. "Oh, come on- _Cinque!_ " he hissed, fighting not to yell.

"Relax, would you!" Cinque's whispered cheer came from just to the right. "I'm not gonna smash anything!

Then, as her footsteps started away; "...Myself."

+x+x+x+

The soldiers didn't seem to have their repairmen on the lists, but Cinque knew it would only be a matter of time before someone realized that the fence should be fixed by now. She quickly snuck her way to one of the frontmost warehouses - where, she had noticed on her way in, a section of the roof had fallen away. She didn't want to risk opening any doors in case they were connected to security, but the Striker Transports that Jack had announced were running into traffic difficulties on an adjacent warehouse; it was a simple matter to hop the running board, clamber up the cargo space, and hop onto the roof before anyone noticed the ripples of movement, whereupon she made the simple leap from the MA storage to the one with the broken roof and drop in.

Several automated weapons were gathered inside; but the silence inside indicated that they were all shut down, which gave Cinque some breathing room as she turned off her cloak. Moving carefully so as to make sure she didn't accidentally activate one, she looked around the warehouse until she came across a large computer.

"Oooh," the mace-swinger muttered, "I _hate_ Tiger tech."

Hated or not, Mother had made sure they all knew how to _work_ 'Tiger tech'... more or less. Carefully clicking through, Cinque found that the automatons were set up so that if the personnel entrance or the bay door was opened, they would start scanning; if there were any targets not wearing a Militesi uniform, the weapons would start attacking, otherwise they would go into patrol mode.

And the system was not password-protected, which made it a simple matter to _change_ that...

+x+x+x+

Ace and Deuce were left waiting impatiently until Cinque got back - which they only realized when Deuce heard her whisper "Done" at point-blank range. Only Ace's hand over her mouth stopped the flautist from screaming; after a moment's panic, they realized that the supersoldier guarding the warehouse they were at hadn't reacted, and the gambler pulled his hand away.

"What were you doing?" Ace demanded.

"One of the stores up front had a busted roof," Cinque explained. "It was full of their auto-bots, with a screen to change their settings. I set them up so they start shooting as soon as the big door opens; then I replaced the door workings with my mace."

"You did _what?_ " Deuce was incredulous.

"Uh-huh!" Cinque confirmed. "Get Kingaling to blow up one of his mags on the tower..." She paused for a moment, visualizing the gates before she said, "on the left, facing the gate, so they've got all the soldiers' attention. Then I can drop the door, and the machines are gonna start shooting 'em full of holes!"

Ace chuckled. "That's... actually pretty good."

Deuce quickly triggered the phantoma link. " _Omicron, this is Phi. Do you have a diversion on the northeast tower?_ "

 _"Diversion in place,"_ Seven confirmed. _"Should we get into position?"_

" _Not quite,_ " Deuce explained. " _We need the diversion triggered, but we can't have you nearby. Cinque hacked several automated weapons to fire when the bay doors are opened and then prepared it to fall. Can you trigger it at range?_ "

King huffed into the link. _"_ _Give us a countdown._ _"_

 _"Damn you all,"_ Sice muttered. _"I wanted to reap some Whites."_

" _Don't worry, Sicey,_ " Cinque insisted. " _There's a lo~tta soldiers in the training hall, and they're gonna start fighting as soon as we take out the leaders. You're gonna be grim by the time we're done._ "

She raised her hand so that when her mace appeared it would be propped on her shoulder. " _Five, four, three, two, one, go!_ "

They heard the magazine detonate clear across the camp. In no time at all, Seven came through over the link; _"Soldiers gathering. Drop the door."_ Cinque's mace appeared in her hand, and before long the sound of Militesi gunfire was bursting out from that direction. Ace quickly tossed a hand of cards at the supersoldier on door duty; once he was on the ground, Ace was running in while Deuce extracted his phantoma.

That delay was the only reason the entire Phi team didn't get taken out at once.

Deuce's Camouflage Cloak was the one still active; as Ace broke into the courtyard, his body became abruptly visible as he found himself out of range of the Inviga. An entire squadron of shock troopers stepped out of the training hall as Ace started to turn around; one of them got the idea to hurl his thunderhatchet at the cloaked cadet, the shock paralyzing Ace and throwing him to the ground. Deuce heard him cry out and started moving, only for Cinque to grab her arm and drag her out of the way; her reasoning became clear when the shock troopers noticed the open doors and came looking.

"What do we do?" Deuce asked.

Cinque shook her head. "Get Sicey in here before they can take Acey inside," she insisted. "She's the only-"

They were both cut off when Cater's voice came in through the phantoma link - in a panic.

 _"This is Gamma! We've got trouble!"_

* * *

Draco: Oh, come on, a mission before Cid even started his coup and you thought it was going to go squeaky-smooth?


	4. Fangs of Retaliation

Draco: Man, I severely underestimated how hard thirty extra levels is.

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **Fangs of Retaliation**

=Gelumens XXII, 841 RG=  
Encampment for Militesi renegade V&W Faction  
Berith Desert

The Gamma team was all lying against the desert sands, in a three-pronged formation straight ahead of the gate. Cater's original idea for 'Classmates who can move fast' proved extraordinarily unnecessary with the single-file gate that the camp had, and the Camouflage Cloaks had a bit of a shorter range than Cater had thought; consequently, her plan for having Eight and Nine flank any outgoings and keeping her magicite pistol trained on the gate turned into the two of them lying about three paces to either side while they kept low to minimize the noticeability of their movement-ripples.

Unfortunately, lying against something hot makes it harder to notice when you feel something hot.

Cinque's idea for keeping the newly-dispersed soldiers busy had worked brilliantly. All the renegades in one place when the automated weapons started firing was wreaking havoc like nothing Class Zero had done before. Cater found herself giggling when she saw supersoldiers making panicky retreats into the guntowers. "That let a coeurl in the flan's nest," she observed.

"Yeah, pity the flans, yo," Nine dismissed. "Now what?"

"Now we wait," Eight mused, rising on one knee to get a better look. "If Sice can't be there to deal with them herself, they're gonna start thinking-"

Cater's reflexive turn towards someone talking strategy made her double-take when she realized she could _see_ Eight. "Wha-? We're visible!"

Nine glanced at his sleeves - his cloak was the one on. "Oh, damn, yo!"

Unfortunately, the patrol noticed them, too; half a second passed before the Striker fired a pair of missiles at them, causing the Gamma team to break ranks as the projectiles landed all of half a meter from where Cater had been lying. The blast was close enough to throw Cater's pistol out of her hands, and the troopers were charging them; Nine leapt forward, his spear aiming for one soldier as Eight landed a nasty set of punches on the other; the soldier managed to tank the melee and loose a few wild shots that caused the brawler to hop away.

Nine's target had dodged his leap outright and was charging Cater; before the ranger could recall her weapon, he was bearing down on her, the bayonet on his gun slicing the straps on her magicite pack. She managed to kick him away, her pistol reappearing in her hand as she scrambled to her feet and fired.

The weapon gave an ineffectual _click_.

Cater glanced down to see her pack lying on the ground.

The Militesi renegade acted first, grabbing the pack and throwing it aside before Cater could whip her pistol across his jaw. The other trooper, trapped between Eight and Nine, was felled in short order, and the brawler quickly extracted the soldier's phantoma. Nine saw the other soldier coming and tried to hurl his lance at him, but a sideways tumble meant the attack nearly struck Cater; the trooper quickly charged into the camp, shouting, "Close the gate!"

"Stop him!" Cater shouted. "He's got my pack!"

"What?" Nine recalled his lance as he turned to the closing gate. "Not on my watch, hey!"

Cater quickly triggered the phantoma link. " _This is Gamma! We've got trouble! One of the renegades took my magicite pack!_ "

Deuce came through on the link, sounding panicked; _"This is Phi! They've captured Ace!"_

 _"Shit,"_ Sice muttered through the link. _"Eta, inside. Covert's out the bag, let's murderize 'em!"_

"Hey!" Nine had managed to get his spear braced between the gates. "Get in here!"

Eight and Cater quickly charged the gates. "What's your score on Mother's unarmed simulator?" the brawler asked.

Cater turned to him, disgusted. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Then you're gonna have to grab the Tiger's guns and start counting," Eight insisted. "Last time I saw a whole volley, they've got twenty shots to a clip. And watch for the recoil."

They quickly ducked under the lance holding the gates. Jack, Queen, and Trey rounded the corner just as the brace slipped; remembering that the charge only went through the gate when it was properly closed, Nine got the head of the weapon in the way of one of the locking mechanisms as the Eta team got close. "Climb it, yo," Nine insisted.

"What about you?" Queen demanded as Jack started climbing.

"Eight's going for Cater's bag, and she's boned without her 'cite, hey," Nine insisted. "That means I gotta watch the perimeter. If they try and deploy with Class Zero rainin' down on 'em, that's news to me, yo, but I'm still gonna break 'em for trying."

"Alright," Trey mused, letting Queen start ahead of him. "Good luck."

"Same to you, hey."

+x+x+x+

With covert no longer ideal, Omicron team getting through the electric fence maze consisted of finding the fewest fences for King to blow a magazine at. Detonating the remaining interior diversion kept the renegades off the gates long enough for Eight and Cater to chase the Militesi who had her bag, but Jack and Queen quickly had their hands full cutting through soldiers. Trey found himself on the rooftops to snipe troopers with his bow as the two of them started slicing through, but it wasn't long before the soldiers noticed that there was someone on the roof and tried to deal with him; a mis-aimed leap had Trey falling through the same roof that Cinque had used to her advantage, leaving him separated from the others.

Queen's quick thrusts were skewering soldiers left and right, and Jack's precise swings had renegades falling in short order; but there's only so much that two fighters can do, and it wasn't long before they were cornered in the fence maze.

"If we could null the charge on the electric fences, it would be a simple matter to cut through them," Queen observed.

"Hey, you're the one who's got the skills for Thunder magic," Jack protested with a chuckle. "Why don't you try zapping them, I'll cover you."

He quickly parried an off-shot bullet from one of the troopers, lashing out with a lunging counter-slash as Queen turned to the fences. The charge originated from a power source in the corner of each warehouse, and with a mutter of "That just might work..." the fencer prepared her magic.

Jack realized too late that she had taken his joke as legitimate advice. "What?!"

He glanced over his shoulder at the same time she loosed the blast; SHG-class magic had range enough to hit the fence and the source at once, and before Queen could step away, they reacted - violently. A discharge that looked like Thunder BOM threw Queen straight across and into the opposing fence, which shocked her with enough force to throw her to the ground; Jack quickly hurled his katana into the rush of soldiers and rushed to the fencer's side. "Queen! Are you alright?"

It was like clouds had been cast over the blazing sun; the area around Queen went dark, and she slowly forced herself to her feet, grasping her sword such that the blade was in line with her arm, and when she spoke, her voice was ridged with a growl.

" **You'll regret that...!** "

Jack leapt back as she charged at the oncoming soldiers; it was a shower of blood as she whirled through them, blade in hand, every swing leaving a renegade dead, and all that Jack could do was wait until she was clear and extract the phantoma from the corpses left in her wake.

"Shit..."

+x+x+x+

Cater and Eight arrived at the training hall to find Deuce and Cinque coming around the northern corner. "You guys see where the guy with my bag went?" Cater asked.

"The only place he could have gone was to the leader's base," Deuce insisted. "But we can't get in there."

"What do you mean?" Eight demanded.

Cinque pointed at the southern corner. "There's _hundreds_ of MAs that way, twenty _dozen_ auto shooters that way," - here she pointed at the northern corner, "and this one's full of soldiers!"

"Hey, you!" Everyone turned to see a supersoldier standing with his rifle levelled on them. "Hands up!"

Eight wasted no time in charging at him with all the speed he had, landing a solid kick that left his gun behind before he could pull the trigger. Eight quickly kicked the weapon towards Cater as the renegade got sparked off an electric fence; Cater grabbed the weapon as he hit the ground, rifling through the guy's pockets until she found a spare clip.

"Alright, this'll work," she mused. "Is that door locked?"

A rattle of the doorknob told Cinque the answer was yes. Deuce quickly drew her flute, playing a _very_ high-pitched note; in no time at all, a shock trooper threw the door open, leaving Eight to slug him across the jaw. The room inside was full of soldiers, just as Cinque had claimed; Cater quickly raised the Militesi rifle with a straight-armed grip as the only three soldiers with firearms and a clear shot took aim.

One bullet struck a soldier through the bridge of his goggles.

Another hit the one next to him through the neck.

Still another tore through the next guy's mouth.

Cater quickly ejected the clip, kicking it into the training hall as she loaded the next one.

Then she charged in, both hands on the gun, firing eight shots at everyone with a firearm of their own - closest to the center first. A bunch of shock troopers went for strikes with their thunderhatchets as she got into melee range - and met an unpleasant surprised when she turned the rifle sideways and used the recoil of five consecutive shots to throw herself into a spin as she swept between them. A couple supersoldiers rushed towards her, but Cater leapt into the air with a spinning flip as she launched three shots at them; then she landed, hopping back as she fired at the magazine she had kicked in - and causing it to blast, taking out everyone left.

Deuce, Cinque, and Eight all had their mouths open as she tossed the gun aside, turning to her classmates as she did so.

"You were right about that recoil."

Eight chuckled, shaking his head. "Hate to admit it," he mused, "but that looked pretty awesome."

"Finally gonna admit that weapons are worth something?"

Deuce and Cinque both spun at Jack's comment, but the brawler only let his smirk fade into a sideways glare. Not even turning around to face the class clown, the brawler snapped, "I said that what _Cater did_ **looked** awesome."

Cinque looked around. "Where's Queensy and Tre-Tre?" she asked.

"Trey was sniping on the rooftops," Jack insisted, the jest in his voice completely gone. "Queen went _lucid_."

"Oh, no," Deuce murmured. She quickly triggered the phantoma link. " _Omicron, where are you?_ "

 _"Courtyard,"_ was King's reply. " _We've got Trey."_

The four of them quickly charged through the training hall, finding Sice, Seven, and King waiting in the courtyard with the archer. Cater glanced around, finding no soldiers in any place to be watching - not surprising, given Sice's tendencies - before turning to Eight. "I'm not getting my bag back, am I?"

"Probably not," Eight admitted.

"Actually," Seven mused, "I saw them take it inside with the guys who had Ace."

"What?" Cater demanded. "They've got Ace with it?"

Sice blinked. "What do you mean 'with it'?"

Cater groaned. "They took him to their leaders, right?"

Deuce nodded. "Yes," she insisted. "I heard them mention they were going to have Biggs and Wedge interrogate him."

"Damn it," Cater muttered. Triggering the phantoma link; " _Nine, get your ass in here. We're gonna need you._ "

 _"I'm still watching the gate, yo!"_ Nine argued. _"They're talking about sending Strikers! Lorica ain't ready to get fought, hey!"_

"What do you need Ninesy for?" Cinque demanded.

"We gotta get Ace out of there before I set it off," Cater demanded.

"Hold it," King insisted. "What are you talking about?"

Trey glanced at the building before turning back to Cater. "Your magicite," he realized. "Even refined for use with your pistol, the very essence of magicite makes it volatile enough that you should be capable of creating-"

"Trey," Cater snapped, "you're rambling again!"

The archer glared at her. "Am I wrong?"

"Yeah," the gunner mused, "you're wrong. I carry around a Rubrumite high explosive on my back and didn't make plans for a theft. _Of course_ you're not wrong!"

"You're going to blow the magicite," Deuce realized. "Can you do that at this range?"

Cater nodded. "I've set it up on my pistol," she insisted. "But I can't trigger it when he might be in range! Mother's gotta extract us if she's gonna wake us up!"

 _"This is Ace..."_

+x+x+x+

"He was carrying a card. He can't possibly be a danger."

"He's not Lorica. If he's not Lorica, that means that we don't know who he is. He could be from Ingram. Or he could be from Rubrum, or Concordia!"

Ace drifted out of unconsciousness, still tingling from the aftershocks of the voltage that knocked him out, to the sound of two men arguing. His hands were restrained behind him, and he seemed to be upright - though not on his feet. As his eyes opened, he found himself in what looked like a war room; there was a small table next to him, and a larger desk with a chair before it. Between him and that desk were two men - one slightly larger than the other - in imperial officer's uniforms streaked gold, with masks on their faces - the V&W leaders, Biggs and Wedge.

"He can't be Azure," the larger man insisted. "Azures don't get that tall."

"Tell that to those corpse things I ran into on our last mission in the kingdom," the thinner protested.

The larger laughed. "Listen to you!" he taunted. "Wedge Shiro, scared of dead men!"

"They weren't _dead_ ," the thin man, Wedge, argued. "They _looked_ like they were dead. They looked like they were _monsters_."

"Concordians control monsters!" the larger man, who must have been Biggs, reprimanded.

"Not like this," Wedge insisted. "They looked like people. And they were _laughing_ , all creepy-like. It was-"

Both of them fell quiet at the hum of magic.

They turned to see Ace, a glow on one of his hands; the gambler triggered his phantoma link. " _This is Ace..._ " he muttered under his breath. " _I have visual on V &W-_"

"What the hell!" Wedge snapped, charging forward; Ace had no time to react before a fierce right cross landed across his jaw, stunning him enough to drop his magic.

Biggs cursed loudly. "He's a Vermilion!"

 _"Ace!"_ Deuce's voice came over the link. _"Where are you!?"_

" _Core building-_ " Wedge struck him again, but Ace managed to hold the link long enough to breathe, " _War room-_ "

Another strike took out his focus. "Stop!" Wedge roared. "Stop it, damn you!"

 _"Ace,"_ Cater prompted, _"they took my magicite backpack. Do you have visual?"_

The gambler glanced around, catching sight of the knapsack hanging over a chair immediately behind the leaders. " _Confirmed._ "

He barely held the link long enough to get that out before he got another fist. "Stop it!" Wedge roared.

Biggs glanced around. "What the hell is your magic even doing?" he protested.

Cater's voice came over the link again; _"Ace, where is the pack now? How close are you?"_

A confused hum passed through Ace's lips; before he could even trigger the link, he was struck again, this time from Biggs. "Dammit, shut up!"

 _"Ace, listen to me."_ Cater's voice was insisted. _"How close are the leaders to the magicite?"_

A realization struck Ace, and he raised his gaze. They had him against the long wall; there wasn't ten paces between him and the opposite wall.

" _Close enough._ "

He barely got that out before Biggs punched him once more. "Damn you!"

Wedge had grabbed a rifle, and levelled it on Ace's face. "Try to cast again, and I swear to Lindzei I'll blow your vermilion face off!"

 _"If you can move,"_ Cater warned him, _"get something between you and my bag. This is gonna be big."_

Ace smirked weakly, raising an eyebrow at Wedge. "From one professional to another," he mused, "when your hostage is wearing something this concealing, you should really take it off first."

Biggs shook his head with a grimace that indicated he was displeased by the mental image. "I'm in a committed relationship," he insisted.

"I'm not interested in little boys," Wedge reprimanded, pulling his rifle away.

" _Detonation in_ _T-minus fifteen, fourteen, thirteen..."_

"Oh, Pulse, that's _not_ what I meant," Ace corrected. "I'm not naked under this thing."

"What a hostage is or is not wearing is really irrelevant," Biggs informed him. "Whatever you've got under there, you can't get at it with your hands tied above it."

 _"...twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven..."_

Ace angled his head. "True enough," he admitted. "But you mentioned that the fact that I 'wasn't Lorica' was a problem. If you're trying to figure out who your opponent is, you should take a good look at what they're wearing. And if they happen to be wearing, say, an Agito Cadet uniform with a vermilion cape..."

Both of the renegade leaders stepped away at that.

"...it might be prudent to find and get rid of their communications."

Wedge scoffed. "The entire camp is on alert," he insisted. "Who could you possibly call for backup that might be able to do anything for you?"

 _"...six, five, four, three..."_

"I'm not talking about backup," Ace insisted. "I'm talking about strikes."

 _"...two, one..."_

His hands were bound, but only to each other; with a quick motion, he threw himself aside, using his legs to knock the table down so that it was between him and the magicite before either of the renegade leaders could move.

+x+x+x+

 _"Close enough."_

That statement had Cater - and the rest of Class Zero - nervous. Ace wasn't exactly the most cautious Classmate, and although they could trust that the blast would, at the very least, _wound_ Biggs and Wedge, they had no reckoning for how much trouble _Ace_ was going to be in.

With a groan, Cater only triggered the phantoma link again. " _If you can move, get something between you and my bag,_ " she insisted. " _This is going to be big._ "

To ensure that it wasn't accidentally set off, Cater's 'contingency detonation' was a multi-step process. First she drew back the hammer on her pistol, holding it drawn while she popped the cartridge. Both of those components were unused during normal operation; behind the hammer was a dark gap, and the cartridge didn't drop much further than it would take to slide a fingernail in there. This caused a small rod to emerge from the gap behind the hammer; Cater quickly pulled that, extending it to the length of her middle finger. The trigger guard promptly detached, and she slid it down the pistol, rotating it and arcing it up so that it blocked the end of the barrel.

" _Detonation in T-minus fifteen..._ "

She didn't expect Ace to come breaking out the window as she counted down; she was simply giving him ample time to analyze his surroundings and find some way to guard himself - if that was an option. Given his position, they were fortunate he was even able to _tell them_ he could see the bag and leaders; it was more than likely that he was very sharply bound, and the link was the only magic he could even use.

" _...three, two, one..._ "

The rest of the class covered their ears as Cater aimed her pistol at the building and pulled the trigger.

Explosions from unrefined phantoma were big enough. Given that the war room was more-or-less centered in the building, Deuce was rather impressed that the blast from Cater's bag actually had fire _coming out the windows_ as they shattered.

The moment the last echoes of the detonation faded, the entire class was moving, heading into the building to recover the gambler.

* * *

Draco: Cater's round with the Militesi rifle is more-or-less the firearm special move _Trigger Happy_ from Bravely Second... as accurately as I can, anyways. I saw that thing and all I could say was "I _gotta_ write that some time."


	5. Lifting Hearts

Draco: I completed Chapters 1 and 2 on the same day, but waited until post-midnight to submit Chapter 2. I also completed Chapters 3 and 4 on the same day, but waited until post-midnight to submit Chapter 4. This arbitrary attempt to maximize the likelihood of my fic being noticed becomes a lot less necessary when I realized that the most recent fic in the Agito XIII category* which is not mine was updated on May 19th.

*based on the default loadout when opening the category page.

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **Lifting Hearts**

=Gelumens XXIII, 841 RG=  
Valley of Monsters  
Northern Valley

"It's about damn time!"

Sice's foul utterance caught the attention of the entire Class. Deuce quickly made her way to the cave's entrance to see the silhouettes of six skyverns blotting out the stars above the _Northern Valley_. With a sigh of relief, she raised a hand; amidst the darkness of night, the glow of dominion magic waiting to be cast could be seen for miles, and once the dragons began to descend Deuce blasted a Fire RF at the valley wall.

Karia dismounted the lead dragon in short order. "I apologize for the delay," she told the cadets. "We were met with some unpleasant complications and needed retreat to recover."

"Join the clubs," Sice muttered, "we're missing a ten."

Deuce gave her a sharp elbow to the ribs before turning to Karia. "Don't worry about timing," she insisted. "Let's just head back to Lorica."

"Very well." The dracoknight stepped aside as the dragons took positions to be mounted. "Same partners as last time, if you please."

+x+x+x+

 _Thirty-six hours earlier..._

Ace opened his eyes.

The blast from Cater's magicite had been strong enough to take a large chunk each out of nearest wall, the floor, and the _roof_ of the war room. The gambler found that his handcuffs hand been blown off from the blast, and his Camouflage Cloak was smouldering; in trying to move, his hands brushed against the floor, drawing a cry from Ace's lips.

With some difficulty, Ace managed to get to his feet, forming a card in hand. There were two men in imperial officer uniforms, both of whom had been ruined by the blasts. The backs of their uniforms were ashen, but the fronts bore gold streaks; a golden mask was crooked on each of their faces, meant to frame their eyes. The gambler stepped forward, finding his left leg refusing to support him with the same strength as his right; consequently, he stumbled slightly to the left and had to correct his steps as he approached the two officers, kneeling between them; with weak hands, he managed to draw the masks, casting them aside.

Then he reached to each of their faces, and closed their dead eyes.

Footsteps from outside the nearest door had Ace getting to his feet as quickly as he was able. He tried to raise his card, but his body refused to so move; he settled for glaring at the door as something pounded against it. Once, twice, thrice; then a slow set of steps away, and a faster set before the door was thrown open.

Eight tumbled into the room following his flying kick.

Ace sighed as his Classmates rushed into the room. "There's a hole in the wall," he told the brawler with a why-didn't-you-take-the-easy-way-in tone.

Cinque gave a horrified yelp on seeing him - his cloak was burned away from the waist down, making the crimson stains on his leggings obvious, and there was a trail of blood just past his left eye. As he started to stumble forward, Deuce rushed up to him, throwing his arm over her shoulder. Ace realized in short order that they were short two; "Where's Queen and Nine?"

"Queen's lucid," Trey explained. "She's been tearing up Militesi left and right. Nine is watching the gate."

Ace shook his head. "If she's gone lucid, we can't leave her here," he insisted. "The moment she comes down, they're gonna-"

 _"Hey, yo!"_ Nine's voice came through the phantoma link. _"Queen's outta warm bodies! Her freak-face is gone, now she just looks scared, yo!"_

King triggered the link the moment his voice faded. " _Get her behind cover. We're on our way out."_

Sice growled. "Great," she muttered, "the meganekko gets the massacre."

Deuce shook her head. "There is _no way_ she killed enough of them to make this escape easy," she insisted. "We're gonna need you to bring up the rear. Once they notice us, start reaping."

A grin rose on the reaper's face, and she formed her scythe in hand - and everyone noticed the faint red glow along the edge of the weapon's blade. "How long do I get to kill?"

"Until they stop following us, until you start getting hurt more than you're hurting them, or until you run out of tiger."

+x+x+x+

In fairness, there were a _lot_ of dead soldiers lying about - most of whom were little more than piles of blood to show that Nine had extracted their phantoma - but the guntowers were still manned, there were soldiers coming out of the barracks, and Cinque's trick with the automated weapons had only extended to one warehouse. Nine and Queen were waiting outside the camp, in the shadows of one guntower; the swordswoman was leaning against the structure with a look of horror on her face. Moving quickly was not an option with Ace trailing blood on the sands (though whether that could be considered fortunate or unfortunate was largely a matter of opinion); Cinque grabbed Queen's hand and began leading her as Class Zero started to the west.

They had managed to get about a third of the way to the Berith Tunnel before the Militesi renegades started approaching them. Sice didn't hesitate; the moment they could hear the sound of Strikers stepping on the sands, she brought herself to a halt, turned round, and prepared her magic. The first Striker to get in SHG range got a blast of Thundaga for it, and Sice was already swinging by the time the MA stopped twitching.

Exactly two soldiers were in position at the Berith Tunnel, but Seven was able to take them out with a few swings of her whipblade; then Class Zero started through the tunnel.

"Why would they even have someone watching this place?" Cater murmured. "There's nothing _in_ the Northern Valley."

"Most likely it's simply an act of overcaution," Trey observed. "Being as they were defying orders from the Militesi army, they would want to ensure that their former comrades could not attack. Given Ingram's position relative to-"

"Tre-Tre," Cinque warned, "you're rambling again."

Cater rolled her eyes. "That one's on me," she admitted. "I made the mistake of asking."

"Keep your eyes out," Eight warned. "If they had someone on the Berith side, they'll have someone on the Valley side. The last thing we need is someone catching us off-guard."

"Don't suppose you could give 'em a flying kick if they do?" Jack joked.

Eight glared sideways at him, not even turning so he could see the jester. "That guy was three steps away from me. If they see us down the tunnel, even I can't run that fast."

Cinque gave a worried shout that brought the Class to a halt. "Queensy's out!"

"What?" Deuce turned around, inadvertently dragging Ace around with her.

Trey approached the collapsed Queen, kneeling next to her. "Mother usually finds her isolated and huddled up after she goes lucid," he recalled. "Resting her body. Keeping her moving must have overexerted her."

Ace groaned in a combination of annoyance and overexertion of his own. "Damn it," he muttered, "I'm slowing you guys down enough with these wounds. Those renegades are gonna be on us any-"

"Guys?"

Everyone looked up to see Sice standing there, with all of _one_ injury - a light cut on the back of her weak hand - and her scythe glowing with so much red that it was a wonder they hadn't noticed her sooner.

"I ran out of tiger."

Deuce raised an eyebrow at Ace.

Ace pointedly ignored it. "Eight, can you carry her?"

+x+x+x+

Fortunately, the renegades _didn't_ have someone on other end of the Berith Tunnel. Unfortunately, Karia and her thunder of dragons were _not_ flying around the Northern Valley when Class Zero got through. With the Valley having quite literally the _strongest_ monsters in Orience, none of the Class was particularly inclined to wait around in the open, and so they elected to wait in the tunnel until they got notice, staying a good bit in to ensure that nothing picked up their scent.

Queen hadn't even woken up yet when they heard a shout from down the tunnel; everyone turned to see a man in a supersoldier uniform charging towards them, wearing a large pack that seemed to be for communications - despite the fact that he was also carrying a rifle.

"There you are, you bastards!"

Eight turned to Sice. "I thought you said you ran out of tiger."

"I did!" Sice protested. "It's not my fault this _one_ guy was further behind than the rest of them!"

Jack chuckled, preparing to draw his katana. "It's just one soldier," he insisted. "Easy gil."

The soldier's hand moved.

Functioning pistol or not, Cater had the sharpest eyes in the Class; she quickly grabbed Jack's sword arm on seeing the device their opponent was holding. "Don't! That's a deadman switch!"

"Go on!" the renegade taunted. "Try and cut me down! I'm wearing more explosives in one uniform than you've got in the whole dominion!" He aimed his rifle one-handed at the cadets. "Pull your magic, pull your swords! You'll still be close enough for me to blow you so hard the _Azures_ will feel it!"

King rolled his eyes, stepping forward - and forming his revolver in hand, causing the soldier to stumble back.

"We have guns, too."

"Wha-?!"

He quickly drew a magazine from one gun and hurled it forward as hard as he could; the moment it was in range, he shot it with the other, blasting the renegade - and setting off the Militesi explosives. Unfortunately, the Berith Tunnel was not particularly stable; as the supersoldier blasted, half the class nearly hit the dirt when the tunnel began to shake.

"Damn!" Nine's roar spoke for all of them. "Run!"

Fortunately, they had prepared for a quick escape out of the tunnel. Ace and the yet-unconscious Queen were not five paces from the Northern Valley entrance; the gambler was able to drag the unconscious swordswoman out, even still wounded as he was (Ace had insisted none of the others waste their magic on healing him with the possibility of remaining Militesi pursuers). Coming out behind them were Eight, Cater, Seven, Cinque, Deuce, Sice, Trey, Nine, King- Jack nearly got buried under the rubble, but managed to slide under the collapsing stones at the last second, the hood of his Camouflage Cloak catching on the rocks.

The jester quickly pulled the cloak off of himself. "I don't even wanna think about how close that was," he insisted.

Everyone in Class Zero glanced out over the region. Northern Valley was pretty barren; no greenery nor body of water to be seen, only a maze of twisting canyons - in which could be seen several massive creatures that most of them recognized as a particularly violent behemoth subspecies.

Cinque groaned. "We can't stay out here!" she protested. "The monsters are gonna get us!"

"There is a cave in this region where we should be able to make camp for the night," Trey informed them. "But it lies in the canyons. With two of us wounded, it will be difficult getting there past such fierce creatures."

The words were hardly out of his mouth before Seven turned to Sice. "You are not going to try and reap a King Behemoth," she reprimanded preemptively.

The reaper scoffed, dismissing the scythe that no one had seen her draw. "You just wanna suck the joy out of everything."

Ace groaned, glancing around - and he was quite surprised when he saw a feathered figure not far away. "On the subject of joy..."

"Huh?" Deuce followed his gaze to see a pale chocobo approaching them - and nobody could act to stop Ace before he had pushed himself towards it. "No, don't- _Ace!_ "

The gambler had more than a few trick cards up his sleeves, with their uses both in and out of battle. One of those was a projectile that would warp him wherever it landed, which was more than enough to compensate for the pace of his wounded limp; a thrown hand later, Ace had managed to intercept the bird, and it only took one more card, set carefully into the feathers of its back, before he was astride the chocobo. Predictably enough, it started trying to shake him off, but Ace managed to hold on - an impressive feat, considering his wounds - until the bird had calmed on realizing there was no predator attacking it.

Despite himself, Ace loosed a light chuckle. "Gotcha, chocobo."

He rode the bird back towards the gathered Class, most of whom had levelled unimpressed glares on him. Cinque had a cheerful smile, Jack wore an amused grin, and Deuce only shook her head.

Ace pointedly ignored _all_ of them. "If I distract any behemoths in the way," he asked, "can you guys get Queen to the cave?"

"I reckon, yes," Trey admitted.

"Then let's go piss off a king."

+x+x+x+

The twisting canyons of the Northern Valley were not all interconnected, and consequently, there was exactly _one_ behemoth that Ace needed to keep busy. In his retreat to the cave, the beast managed to trip up his chocobo, and Ace was - regretfully - left with little choice but to abandon the poor bird as the King Behemoth began rending it. When he arrived, he found Sice pacing at the cave's entrance.

"About time you showed up," she spat, cross.

"Sorry," Ace groaned. "It got the chocobo."

"What chocobo...?" Sice shook her head. "Whatever. Queen's up. Why don't you go play Chronobind with her or something. We don't need her rocking on her feet all night."

Ace knew better than to try and argue with Sice when she was like this; he could see the red tinge around her hands, and he knew she needed some time to let the malice out of her system. He quickly stumbled inside to see his Classmates were scattered about; none of them looked like they were in anything resembling a positive mood.

Trey was pacing, muttering under his breath - Ace caught snippets of what sounded like a passage from the Nameless Tome that Mother had made them all read from before. Queen was sitting against the cave wall, sheet-white, her eyes unfocused. Eight seemed to be faring the best, considering that he was offering Cater his hands to punch in frustration. Jack had gone back to his usual lighthearted self, and was cracking jokes at Cinque and Deuce, who both looked worried; a nasty red mark on his face implied that he had tried it on Sice already. Seven was fidgeting - digging at the earth, feeling around the walls, flexing her whipblade, and just generally keeping her hands busy. As Ace glanced around wondering where Nine was, the lancer charged back from further in; his foot caught on a ridge of the wall, and his yelp drew everyone's attention as he fell to the cave floor.

Seven, who was closest, only shook her head. "Nine," she reprimanded, "what are you doing?"

Eight just snickered, raising his hand to catch another of Cater's punches. Nine noticed; he grabbed a decent-sized rock nearby, and with a roar of "What are _you_ laughing at!?" he hurled it at the brawler. Eight only stepped aside, following it with his gaze as it shattered against the wall.

Ace only shook his head, stepping - or rather, limping - forward before things escalated. "Enough," he insisted. Eight only gave Cater his focus back as Ace approached the lancer. "Anything further in?"

"A bunch of mandragoras, yo," Nine insisted. "And I think I saw a malboro a bit deeper. Nothin' else."

"We shouldn't have anything to worry about," Trey observed. "For the most part, these caverns are too narrow to permit a malboro's movement, and mandragoras prefer to-"

"Trey," Sice roared from the cave entrance, "you're rambling again."

Ace only shook his head. "We shouldn't have anything to worry about," he echoed. "That's all we need to know." As the archer went back to his scholastic pacing, Ace turned to Seven to find the whipblade artist was picking at the wall. "Find something?"

"No," she insisted, pulling her hand away. "I'm just... anxious."

"That makes two of us, yo," Nine admitted. "This was supposed to be a quick mission. We go in, we cut some fangs, we get out. Code Crimson don't get easier than that, yo. Now we're campin' in the Valley of Monsters because Kairi and her dragons ain't shown up. If I didn't know better, I'd be askin' Sice for a spar just to kill some time, hey."

"Karia," Seven insisted. "Her name is Karia."

"Does it _matter_ , yo?" Nine demanded. "I remember she's got a name at all."

Seven let her gaze hit the dirt. "Yeah," she admitted. "If we remember who Karia is, that means she's still alive. So why isn't she here like she promised?"

Nine scoffed. "You think she turned on us, hey?"

"I doubt it," Ace assured them. "Not with an attitude like that."

He stepped away as Seven went back to scratching at the wall. He found Jack stepping away from Deuce and Cinque and knelt down where the jester had been, grunting lightly when he connected with the floor.

Deuce realized why. "Oh no, your wounds," she murmured. "I can't believe you were playing decoy for a behemoth in that state."

"I wasn't _walking_ ," Ace insisted

"Didja crawl?" Cinque asked as Deuce cast a Cure on Ace. "I don't see how that would work much better."

Ace glanced between the two of them, concerned, before he realized what he had forgotten. "I was riding a chocobo," he reminded them.

Cinque blinked. "Wha...?"

"It got eaten," Ace insisted. "It wasn't fast enough to outrun a King Behemoth for too long. I was lucky it lasted as long as it did."

He shifted his weight testingly, finding himself still a little sensitive, and Deuce prepared another round. "Right," she murmured, "your memories..."

Ace chuckled. "That's hasn't got so much to do with it," he assured them. "A swipe of a behemoth's claws had enough force to kill a chocobo right then and there. I got thrown off its back just far enough that the monster decided it would rather have chicken than veal."

One more cast of Cure was enough for Ace to move without limping. He quickly got to his feet, leaving the two of them alone and making his way towards Queen.

"Hey."

The swordswoman turned towards him, but otherwise didn't much acknowledge him.

Ace knew better than to ask about her session; rather, he sat down before her, reaching into his pocket and drawing out a deck of smaller playing cards. "Care for a bit of blackjack?" he asked.

Queen's gaze shifted to the deck.

The gambler followed her gaze to see that there was a hole torn straight through the cards. "Woah, okay, then," he admitted. "Hold on." He slipped the flap of the box open and drew out the deck, shuffling through them carefully.

"Took out some of the designs," he observed, "but the numbers are still good." Casting aside the joker; "And there's not enough fraying to stop me from shuffling."

His comment only prompted Queen to lower her gaze.

Uncertain how to take that, Ace decided to deal; he gave the cards a quick shuffling and dealt hands; Queen ended up with a five and a four, while Ace had a six face-up and a nine hidden. "Whatever you lose," he offered quietly, "I'll call void. Whatever you win is your profit. I'll pay when we get back. Twenty gil to a round?"

Queen remained quiet for a moment; then her hand reached forward, and she tapped her cards weakly.

Ace smiled, dealing out her next card; an eight, leaving her at seventeen. Another tap earned her a two, and she raised her hand palm-out to hold at nineteen. Ace flipped his nine to show himself at fifteen; then he dealt himself an ace, and then a two, leaving himself at eighteen.

"One round to you."

"Hey, is this an open table?" Jack's voice caused Ace to glance up as the jester sat down. "I'd like to join in."

"Sure," Ace assured him. Turning to Queen; "That okay with you?" The swordswoman nodded, and Ace started shuffling. "Twenty gil per round. Any loss is void; your winnings are profit. Keep a count, I'll pay you when we get back." He dished out cards; Queen got a four and ten, Jack got an eight and six, and Ace got a three and a hidden four. Once hit gave Queen a six, and she stopped at twenty; Jack busted with a king on his first hit, and a nine and a seven busted Ace as well.

Before long, the blackjack games had drawn the attention of the rest of Class Zero as well; Deuce needed to take a second deck to deal a separate "table" and prevent players from waiting too long. As the sun went down, even Sice decided it was too late to keep watching and joined in; by the time midnight had rolled around, everyone was in decent spirits.

"Good thing it's not _our_ money we just lost," Cinque observed.

"I know," Jack complained, "I was hoping to make a little this time."

Ace chuckled on seeing his ploy to lift some spirits had worked. "Seven won three rounds more than she lost, Queen won ten rounds, and Deuce got one round's profit before she started dealing," he announced. "Someone remind me tomorrow."

"Yeah," Nine groaned, "I figure we oughta call it a night, yo."

"I'll take watch," Queen offered, the lingering fright from her lucid session having vanished some thirty hands before they had split tables. "Don't want us all to be asleep if Karia shows up."

They decided watch shifts; then Queen took position at the cave entrance, and the rest of the Class called it a night.

+x+x+x+

The next day was uneventful, and it was short order before Class Zero was frustrated by their continued wait. The sun had vanished before Sice's "It's about damn time!" echoed into the cave, stopping anyone from falling asleep quite yet. Deuce was quick to rush out and see the dragons flying above, signalling Karia with the glow of dominion magic, and the six skyverns arrived outside the cave.

"I apologize for the delay," she told the cadets. "We were met with some unpleasant complications and needed retreat to recover."

Sice only scoffed. "Join the clubs," she observed, "we're missing a ten."

Deuce elbowed her sharply in the ribs. "Don't worry about timing. Let's just head back to Lorica."

"Very well. Same partners as last time, if you please."

The cadets were on board the dragons in no time, and before long they were flying back over Berith Desert. Everyone was surprised to see what looked like the wreckage of a Militesi carrier had crashed into the renegade camp; after giving it a long look, Ace turned to the dracoknight perched ahead of him. "Wait, so the 'complications' you mentioned were...?"

Karia only nodded. "Yes," she replied. "Renegade reinforcements had arrived in one of the tigers' airships. My skyverns were able to fell it, but did not escape unscathed. Militesi firearms are distressingly accurate when you least expect them to be."

They arrived in the forest at the northeast corner of Lorica to find Ishme waiting there with his great tauricorn.

"I cannot recall for the life of me who was leading the renegade forces," the paladin told the cadets as they dismounted. "I take that to mean that their leaders have been crushed, and you return here victorious."

"Absolutely," Queen confirmed. "Your people no longer have anything to fear from rogues of the White Tiger."

Ishme bowed appreciatively. "Thank you, Class Zero. And you, dracoknight Karia. Thanks to your efforts, we have been spared dreadful turmoil. Rest the night here; I will send word to Dr. Al-Rashia to extract you."

As he mounted his tauricorn, Karia turned to the cadets.

"I presume you will insist that I take the bed once again?"

* * *

Draco: I know people in my fanfics play blackjack way too often, but I don't know any other card games.

Let's be a little generous with timeframes here and assume that Cater blew her magicite at noon in the previous chapter. And remember that Orience (looks like it) has 26-hour days.

I know that "Sice's residual malice" is an overused concept, and I apologize preemptively. Don't bother bringing that up.


	6. A Clash of Wings

Draco: Really hoping for Aero magic in Type-Next. Wind magic doesn't get enough representation.

Okay, this is where we decidedly get spoiler-y. If you disregarded my warning in Chapter 1 about spoilers, (for whatever reason) I insist you remedy that immediately. For those who did not, I'll give you a sneaky hint in case a particular identity is not obvious: I was tempted to drag this out for another four chapters, but decided against it.

Final Fantasy Type-0 © Square Enix

* * *

 **A Clash of Wings**

=Gelumens XXIV, 841 RG=  
Lorica Alliance territory  
Jubanla Region

"You sure you're gonna be alright?"

Seven's query only prompted Karia to shake her head. "Worry not about me," she insisted. "Whatever punishment my warden may deliver is nothing, so long as those who would rebel against their crystal have been put to rest."

Trey nodded. "Then, give your warden regards from the Vermilion Bird," he offered.

Karia only bowed lightly in response, a smile on her face, before mounting one of her skyverns; and the Agito Cadets raised their hands, prompting dominion magic to light up around them as they were teleported on board Class Zero's airship. Not wanting to risk an attack from any renegade stragglers, the ship's Invija was triggered to cloak it; then - slowly - they made their way back towards the Vermilion Nest.

They were over the Iscah region when they ran into trouble.

Cinque was the first to notice, leaning against the ship's railing as they drifted over the dominion - her long braid was flapping about in the wind, for the altitude of an airship had next to nothing to get in the way of the gales. So when she found her hair had come to a stop, she was quick to stand straight, looking around.

"Where'd the wind go?"

The mace-swinger's call drew everyone's attention. Sice, who had been pacing near the prow, came to a stop, tapping the deck with her foot. "We're dead in the air."

"The magikonverter must have cut out," Queen observed. It was not a particularly rare occurrence - given how the ship had been modified for maximum speed and maneuverability, no one was surprised that it acted up at low speeds. "Are we still vanished?"

Ace drew a card with a reflective inner surface and tossed it away from the ship; at a sufficient distance, the reflection of the vessel disappeared to make way for a clear blue Orience sky. "Looks like it."

Queen nodded. "Alright. Trey, Seven, with me."

The three of them made their way below deck to check on the ship's workings. Deuce, however, was worried; the ship going quiet was bad enough, but the disappearance of the wind made it all the more suspicious. While her Classmates went back to what they were doing - Sice's pacing, Cinque admiring the view, Ace absently shuffling his cards - Deuce drew her flute carefully, and raised it to her lips.

A deep note echoed through her flute.

A burst of crimson waved out around her - and a female voice cried out as a cloaked figure was knocked to the deck.

The sound got everyone's attention; everyone turned to see someone in what looked like _a Camouflage Cloak_ was getting to her feet three paces in front of Deuce, a tome in her hands. The flautist quickly lashed her hand forward to throw a Fire RF at her, but the girl simply let the book fall open as a Wall rose up to block it. King drew his guns, firing at her one-two; the incomer raised the book before her, a bullet colliding with each cover and falling to the deck. Cinque charged forward with her mace in hands, but the bookworm simply stepped aside as the head of the weapon struck the surface she had been standing on - and _went through_ , leaving it stuck there. Eight rushed her from the opposite direction, his speed compared to Cinque's nearly taking the cloak out - and as she was stumbling from her evasion, Ace hurled a hand of cards at her.

She only raised her tome to the incoming cards, slamming it shut single-handed - and _each card_ was caught between a separate pair of pages, sticking out of the top like oversized bookmarks.

The whole Class went silent.

The girl had the hood of her cloak up - but the shadows of the hood only covered her eyes, which made it clear to Cinque when a smile rose on her lips.

"I see you haven't been slacking off the last three or four times."

The door to the hold opened, and Queen, Trey, and Seven stepped out to see their Classmates amidst a fight zone.

Then the cloak let her book fall open again, and Ace's cards _flew back at him_ ; only a last minute dodge into a hand of cards stopped him from getting the incoming end of a dealing. Cinque was still trying to pry her mace out of the deck; the book was suspended in the air with a glow of dominion magic as the cloak pulled one hand away from the spine and caught it with the other. A gale ripped up around her with strength all-too-reminiscent of BOM magic, throwing Cinque's mace out of the deck with enough force to send Cinque herself flying - despite the fact that the magic hadn't so much as touched her - and as Sice charged her with her scythe drawn, the girl hopped away, her cloak rippling around her as she landed upon the railing.

Another glow from her tome as she changed hands again.

Massive shots of bright magic - Aloud - fired out from the book in her hand. The attack didn't manage to hurt anyone (the spell was infamous throughout the dominion for its horrendous accuracy), but it was enough to stop the Class from rushing her, whereupon she closed her book and lowered it at her side.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," she insisted. "And I'd appreciate it if you all stopped trying to hurt me."

Trey nocked an arrow on his bow - though he didn't draw the string. "Given you seem to have confiscated one of our Camouflage Cloaks," he observed, "and have sampled dominion magic, we have every reason to believe you to be a traitor to the Vermilion Bird, and I see no reason not to-"

"Trey," the cloak interrupted, "you're rambling again."

The whole class did a double-take at that.

The girl raised her tome. "I am only here as a messenger. If you are willing to hear my message, I will share it with you, and then depart. If you do not wish to hear it, then say so - and I will leave you peacefully."

Queen set a hand against the corner of her glasses, shifting them up without gripping the frame. "...Let's hear it."

A smile rose on the messenger's face, and she let her tome fall open; light formed a sphere above it, within which appeared words in an unfamiliar script, and the girl began to read aloud.

" _Your_ _path is not chosen. But neither is this the first time you have chosen your path. If you go in, not knowing the fear of death, then you will never learn the fear of confronting it - until the thunder sounds, and all you remember burns away in vermilion fire._ "

The light faded, and she closed the tome one-handed.

"Let me know when you have arrived."

Then her weight shifted - and all of Class Zero started when she fell backwards over the railing. Seven hit the barrier first, glancing earthward as her classmates lined up at her sides - but none of them saw anything but the Iscah Region below.

"...What the hell... what that?" Nine murmured.

"We were... talking to someone?" Cater ventured. "But... I can't remember who..."

"Then..." Eight shook his head. "That means they're..."

Jack groaned. "How did they even get on here?" he wondered. After a moment; "Ace, you got anything?"

The whole Class turned to the gambler, whose gaze had hit the deck. King spoke up; "You don't have to-"

"Nothing."

Everyone was surprised at that. Deuce stepped forward. "What do you mean...?"

"There's nothing," Ace insisted. "Whatever happened... I have no idea."

A sudden breeze swept across the airship, and Cinque glanced around. "The wind's back..."

"We got the magikonverter going again," Queen informed them. "We should get back to Mother."

And none of them disagreed.

+x+x+x+

Their arrival at the Vermilion Nest found Mother waiting at the docks, greeting them with a smile as they stepped off the airship. "Glad to see you've made it back," she welcomed as the airship made its way back towards the hangar.

"Aww," Cinque mused, "were you worried about us, Mother?"

"No, I wasn't worried," she assured them. "I had every confidence you would succeed. With all twelve of you active, I would be more concerned for the opposition."

Queen reached for her glasses. "Have you received word on the situation in Milites?" she asked.

Arecia nodded. "Yes," she confirmed, "I was told the renegade forces surrendered, on realizing they could no longer remember on whose behalf they were acting. All in all, mission accomplished."

Cater made her way forward. "Mother, I had to set off my magicite..."

"I suspected as much when you were missing your pack," Arecia observed. "Come with me, I have a backup for you."

She and Cater set off together, and the rest of the Class quickly disbanded as well; only Ace remained at the docks, glancing around. The skies were slightly cloudy, and the sun was on its way down, but the air was windless, and the waters were calm. A smile rose on the gambler's face, and he took a seat next to a large wooden barrel, drawing one card in hand.

" _Walk on, wandering souls  
For your respite we pray  
Let our humble song clear your hearts of dismay  
Rekindle the flame in your souls and set you free  
So walk on and become the light that guides the way..._"

+x+x+x+

Cater had new magicite in a new backpack in no time at all; before the sun had vanished, Arecia had retreated into her office at the Vermilion Nest. With a deep, smoky breath, she extinguished her cigarette and set the holder aside before taking the seat at her desk.

A pair of dice in bright crimson were sitting on the desk, as she had anticipated; one was sitting with the six facing up, and with a light sigh she turned the other so it showed a four.

"Whatever did you tell them this time?"


End file.
